Digital Subjects and Literary Texts

"Mathematician Stephan Wolfram has recently proposed that many different kinds of complex systems, including human thought and action, can be modeled using cellular automata. These very simple computational systems have demonstrated that they are capable of generating complex patterns using simple rules. According to physicist Ed Fredkin, cellular automata underlie physical reality on a subatomic level; in his view, nature itself is software running on a Universal Computer. This presentation will look critically at these claims, asking whether we should consider them as physical models or as over-determined metaphors that would inevitably emerge in a historical period when computation is pervasive. This issue, and its proliferating implications, will be explored through Greg Egan's print novel Permutation City, which imagines a world in which it is possible to simulate a person's consciousness inside a computer, creating a Copy that has all the personality and memories of the original." My Mother Was a Computer: Digital Subjects and Literary Texts [RealAudio] by Katherine Hayles, University of California at Los Angeles. Presented at HUMlab, Sweden.

Open Zone is a quarterly open screen night for new works by NYC-based
artists. Including documentary, experimental and narrative film, video and
new media, Open Zone provides a unique opportunity to view and discuss
emerging work of all kinds. Submissions are received prior to the screening,
and the organized program is circulated to filmmakers two weeks before the
show, which will be held on Wednesday, December 14.

Work must be under 10 minutes in length and produced in the last 12 months.
Acceptable formats include: DVD, VHS, Mini DV, 16mm, S8 film.

To be considered for the next Open Zone, please send a preview copy of your
work, along with a $10 submissions fee, to

Inclusion in the program is held on a first-come, first-serve basis. All
filmmakers with work in the screening receive free admission for themselves
and one guest.

Please contact Thomas Beard (thomas@ocularis.net) with any questions.

Ocularis is a weekly cinema run out of Galapagos Art Space dedicated to the
exhibition of independent, experimental and documentary film/video and new
media, as well as international and repertory cinema. For our current
schedule and more information on Ocularis, please visit
http://www.ocularis.net
--

With 9 million blogs, umpteen online message boards, thousands of shows on hundreds of cable channels and an increased number of magazines on the newsstand, the number of outlets for expressing criticism has never been higher and the barriers to would-be criticshave never been lower. Is this devaluing evaluation or does the shotgun approach result in better criticism? Certainly everyone has an opinion but is everybody a critic?

A reminder to those who are considering submitting works to Open Call: the
deadline is coming up soon - October 31st! Open Call is the exhibition that
Rhizome is organizing in collaboration with free103point9 - more information
on it can be found here: http://www.free103point9.org/opencall.php

If you have any questions about it - please feel free to contact me
directly.

Crisscross a City

[Unrelated photo: a port-a-potty-based public address system at the MACBA, Barcelona, 2005.]

A public art project called FOUND SOUND will be featuring works from artists in sound booths ('reconfigured' Port-a-Potties) on sidewalks in public locations throughout Washington, D.C. from Oct 14-Nov 5. Participating artists include Richard Chartier, Joseph Grigely, Alberto Gaitán, Jennie C. Jones, Helmut Kopetzky, Brandon Morse, Robin Rose, and Alex Van Oss. Actor and part-time New Orleans resident Harry Shearer (The Simpsons, Spinal Tap, HuffPo) is contributing a piece on Hurricane Katrina, and Calvin Trillin has contributed a poem as well. The press release quotes this from an essay by Nora Halpern at Americans for the Arts:

FOUND SOUND entices the listener to crisscross a city to experience fully this collection of work. As one leaves a destination for anotherówhether by foot, car, bus, or Metroóthe heightened audio awareness encouraged by each piece should continue, like a musical riff, through all the spaces in between.

Thatís great and all, but in most of the places where these will be, 'heightened audio awareness' might not be a good thing. Downtown D.C.ís not known for its street life ó but we have plenty of nice, loud traffic and construction. Maybe they should make a podcast available for walking in between. Local galleries including Fusebox, Conner Contemporary Art, the Goethe Institute, and DCAC are collaborating. No map seems to be available yet but weíll link when it turns up online. No word on whether any of the port-a-potties will be performing their originally intended public service as well, but consider it highly unlikely. [blogged by Tim on shey.net]